BLOOD, money and family secrets are the stock in trade of a growing company setting new professional standards in the unregulated heir hunting industry.

Scotland-based Genealogy Worldwide Limited (GWL) brings hope to lost beneficiaries and not just the rich, but the struggling executors of even the smallest estates worth £10,000 or less.

The small team of five professional genealogists and researchers, headed by founder Linda Chatwin, does the crucial tracking legwork for solicitors, their executor clients and pension funds.

The company turns over £250,000 in what is an expanding market as the families have become more fragmented and society more mobile since the 1960s.

That generation, the first to experience greater legal and social freedoms such as divorce and living together, is now dying and their legacy is estranged children and forgotten relatives.

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Genealogy Worldwide turns over £250,000 in a new and emerging market

Chatwin, 44, who started GWL in West Lothian four years ago, explains: “We generate a family tree for an estate where no will has been left or it is out of date. We trace any potential beneficiaries and work to ensure any claim is acceptable and accepted.

But GWL is one of few professionally qualified firms doing this work in the UK (and the only one in Scotland) and sets itself firmly apart from many others in a sector with no official codes and peppered with enthusiastic amateurs, says Chatwin.

“We follow the intestacy rules. We know all the places to search, government, medical and family records, then tie up certificates to blood relatives. The hardest to trace are adopted and illegitimate children. What we produce can be trusted and is compliant, not least for insurance purposes.

“Executors are legally obliged to settle a will and many solicitors do not have the resources in house to chase every lead. One firm sold a house that had been left when the owner died, but the money sat in a fund for years while the search for a beneficiary continued.

“When it comes to big estates, the network can be vast. Devoting a dedicated team who know where to look is the best answer.”

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The award-winning company recently scored a £13,000 feasibility grant from Scottish Enterprise

Chatwin saw a gap in the market for this, her first business, after being made redundant from a financial services job. She knew the sector was in need of a new business model.

“Usually searchers charge a fee for the service, plus a percentage of the estate proceeds and, the critical element, uncapped expenses.

“I was determined to make it clearer and more attractive for clients. At GWL we work on a flat fee only, based on our analysis of what the project involves.

“That enables us to take on work for small estates, just £80 going to some beneficiaries to large, complex ones involving 20 or 30 lines of inquiry.”

It’s sensitive work. “Nine out of 10 people are happy to hear from us as it means they might get some money,” adds Chatwin.

“But it can mean shocks so we proceed very gently. One case involved a lady who had a half-brother who was the result of a secret relationship her father had. The brother died without a will, she was the blood relative entitled to inherit his estate and for years he only lived a few streets away. Neither knew and then it was too late.”

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GWL does the crucial tracking legwork for solicitors, their executor clients and pension funds

Following a £13,000 feasibility grant from Scottish Enterprise, Chatwin is developing software that would speed up searches and be available to its clients and others on subscription.

Now she is looking for an investor, an experienced angel with £50,000 for new product development, a marketing campaign to raise awareness among UK solicitors and attract overseas business from the likes of Canada, the US and Australia.

She would also like more tax breaks for expanding companies such as her own.

“I want to take on more staff and train them properly but we need more government support,” she explains. “More people have more assets and every month I see other uses for our services.”